Dedicated to helping doctors and their team create custom systems and marketing plans that enable them to have an office that is not only highly productive and fun but one that allows them to consistently exceed patient expectations.

It’s the little details, the little things that can make the biggest impact on your practice growth and the happiness of your team. Best of all, the little things (ideas) that I am sharing today are FREE or very low-cost and most only require seconds of your time.

Here is a list of 30 little things you can do starting today to greatly improve your office and in turn your personal life too!

Hello, Good Morning! – Make it a point to greet your fellow team members’ every morning. Let people know that you see them and acknowledge them with a hello.

Smile More – Smiles are contagious. Smile before you pick up the phone, smile to passersby, smile to your teammates, and smile in the mirror. Smiling will boost your mood, put people at ease, and makes you more likable.

Say My Name – Everyone likes to hear his or her name. Greet your patient’s by name. Use their name during treatment. Thank them by name for coming in or calling.

Choose to be Positive – Your attitude is a choice and that choice is 100% within your control. Avoid spreading negativity by sharing bad patient experiences, personal problems, or problems with other team members. Choose to be happy and positive.

Be Kind – Be kind to your patients, strangers, sales reps, and callers.

Friendly Greeting – Warmly greet every person that visits the office. Even if you’re on the phone or taking care of a patient, you can acknowledge the other person with a smile.

Say Please – Make it a habit to say please everytime you ask for something.

Offer a Proper Handshake- A nice, firm handshake shows confidence and makes a good impression. (Tip: When a new patient comes into the office, come from around the desk and welcome them with a handshake.)

Check it Twice – Before you send that email, letter, or text, check it for spelling errors.

Social Media Sites – If your office is using social media sites be sure to like and follow the pages of local businesses within your community. Click the LIKE button or comment on their posts. This is an easy way to build relationships.

No Cell Phones – Turn down the volume and put your cell phone away while you’re on the clock. Ask your family and friends to call the office line in the event of an emergency. Be fully present during work hours.

Write it Down- Start and end your day with to-do lists. Write a note or set an electronic reminder to check on that claim, call your patient, check voice mail, etc. Writing things down prevents you from forgetting things that are important. (Tip: Avoid placing sticky notes around your workstation. Clutter is chaos to the patient. Place reminders in a notebook that you frequently refer to or set electronic reminders.)

Commendation – Commend a fellow team member when you catch them doing something “right”. Commendation boosts morale. (Tip: Commend & reward the behavior and actions that you want to see more of.)

Business Cards – Carry your business cards with you and use them! Get your team personalized business cards to hand out to patients and people they do business with. (Tip: Use the back of the business card with a call to action invitation.)

Stay on Time – If you’re often running behind schedule, investigate as to the reason(s) why. If you know the why… change whatever it is causing you to stray from the schedule. Running behind schedule sends a message to your patients and your team that you don’t respect their time. Arriving at the office with plenty of time before the first scheduled patient, expecting your patients to arrive on time, never wait on hygiene exams, calculate the actual amount of time it takes to do procedures, control the schedules, these things will help you stay on time.

Patient of the Day! – Select a patient from the day’s schedule to be your “patient of the day”. Give them a certificate, a small gift and take their picture to share on your social media sites. This is a fun and inexpensive way to exceed your patients’ expectations. SEE Dental Patient of the Day Ideas

Post-Op Calls – Doctors and Hygienists, call your patients at the end of the day to see how well they are doing. (Tip: Call all patients that received an extraction, perio treatment, difficult procedure, were fearful or new to the office.)

Pre-Op Calls – Doctors and Hygienists start building your relationship with a new patient before they step foot in the practice. Call and give a warm welcome, let them know you are looking forward to meeting them at their appointment. It’s unexpected, takes only a few minutes and will really make your new patient feel special.

Send a Card – In this electronic age, rarely do people get “real” mail. Send hand-written thank you, get well, thinking of you, anniversary, sympathy, and congratulations cards to your patients. They will truly appreciate it! (Tip: Keep a supply of cards on hand in the office.)

Everybody Clean Up – Pick up the piece of paper from the floor, dust off the plants, keep your workspace and the restroom clean. SEE Clean Your Dental Office

Replace the roll of Toilet Paper – Even if there are still a few squares left to spare, replace with a fresh roll. While you’re at, go ahead and fold the toilet paper into a pretty fan.

Huddle Up – The morning meeting is essential for a successful day. If you tried in the past to have a morning huddle and it didn’t work out… try again! However, this time, please follow these tried and true suggestions & tips for morning meeting success.

Dress the Part – If you want it to be a great day, start by looking great. Wear clothes that reflect the excellent care you give your patients. This means wearing professional, clean and wrinkle-free clothes. Also, your hair and body should be clean and odor-free. (Yes, I went there.)

Verbiage Matters – Use these words often: Absolutely, I’ll be happy to, My pleasure, You are very welcome, Certainly, and Right away.

Acknowledge and Reward Referrals –For every patient you must have a referral source, how else will you be able to track what marketing works and what doesn’t? Especially if you want more referrals from your current patients, then reward the behavior that you want to see more of. Acknowledge and Reward your referrals.

Answer the office Phone – This one is KEY to your success. All of your marketing efforts lead people to the phone first. Answer the office phone during the times when patients and new patients are most likely to call. This includes lunch hours. SEE How to Effectively Answer The Dental Office Phone

Memorable Goodbyes– Make a great last impression with a friendly goodbye…be sure to use the patient’s name.

“I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually, they make the difference between winning and losing.”

~Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Do the right thing, as a team work together to implement these little things in your office every day. Print this list and review it at your next team meeting. Enjoy practice growth with a happier team and happy patients.

The ideas that I’m sharing for the month of October can be done any time of year but sometimes, it helps to have a little push. So here is your gentle push to make plans now to have a great start to the final quarter for the year.

Use it or Lose it Reminders – Get your letters (& phone calls) out to your patients reminding them to use any insurance benefits they have remaining for 2017 to complete any needed treatment or for their continuing care hygiene appointment before they lose them.

Improve Your Office Day – October 4th (It is also Taco day and Vodka day, coincidence? I think not.)

Take this opportunity to examine ways to improve your office. Here are some ideas to get you started: SEE Improve your Office

Customer Service Week – October 2nd -6th – This is a great theme for your next team meeting. What ideas can you come up with as a team to exceed your patients’ expectations by consistently delivering excellent customer service?

What do you do when you run late? (If you’re habitually running behind, please change that habit! It’s disrespectful to your patients and your team)

What do you do when the lab screws up a case?

What about comfort? How are you making the visit as comfortable as possible for your patients?

Boss’s Day is October 16th – Plan now to make this day special for your boss(es).

Get to Know Your Customers Day is October 19th –Perhaps you could have a Business Card Drawing for a Free Lunch. Have fun with this day or turn it into a week or month-long event. This will allow you to get to know your patients better as well as learn what local businesses you want to focus some of your marketing efforts on.

October is National Dental Hygiene Month – What can be done to improve your hygiene department? Examine your current protocols and systems…both clinical and administrative.

Combine these practice management ideas with my Marketing Ideas and you will have a great October (and final quarter) as a team! Not to mention, your patients will love you for it!

As always, I would love to hear your ideas! Should you need any help implementing these ideas or have any other questions that I can help you answer… I’m ready to help!

Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!

Flower seed packets can be purchased at most Dollar Stores for around .20 a packet. Great deal!

The labels you attach to the flower seed packets can say:

“Your referrals help grow our practice, Thank you!“

“Our Office Blooms Because of you!“

“Please enjoy these flowers growing as much as we enjoy your referrals growing our practice.”

A Quick note about referrals – make sure you are tracking them. Specifically tracking each and every new patient’s referral source. No generic “internet” referral sources either, that isn’t good enough and can mean many different internet sources. You want to know exactly what is bringing in the new patients so you can do more of it. 🙂

Your patients will love these little flower seed packets give-aways! Often times they ask if they can take one for a friend/family member. Of course, they can! This is why you want to make certain the office name & info is on the packet.

Baseball – Opening Day ~ Dress in your cities baseball team attire/colors and take pictures to post on social media pages– invite your patients to come to their appointment in their baseball attire. Make it a fun day in the office. (Serve hot dogs & popcorn)

~ Educational Opportunity ~

Stress Awareness Month ~ Stress can impact your dental health. Share tips on how to de-stress and protect your smile. Or, for some, going to the dentist can be a stressful experience. Share ways that your office helps to make dental visits comfortable and stress-free.

~ Social Media Post Ideas to Improve Engagement ~

National Fun Day: 1

Vitamin C Day: 4

No Housework Day: 7

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day: 12

National Stress Awareness Day: 18

National Garlic Day: 19

Take Our Daughters & Sons to Work Day: 27

Sense of Smell Day: 29

So there you have it, some fun & educational ways to help your patients and potential patients smile and exceed their expectations during the month of April.

If you are interested in having me help your office create a custom marketing campaign that includes ideas for special offers, office fun, patient give-aways/drawings, community involvement, cross marketing with local businesses and hygiene continuing care/incomplete treatment scripting, please contact me today at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com

Are you receiving my free dental marketing and practice management ideas every month to your inbox? If not, PLEASE take a second and follow today or send me your email address and I will send you an invitation to follow. This way, you won’t miss a single idea. Feel free to share my blog with your dental friends. ~ Thank you!

I thought I would start this post with a lovely quote about the month of November, apparently, that was a big request as it looks like November is not a favorite for most. The majority of the quotes were about how awful the month of November is.

If that’s how you feel about November, I would like to help you make it such a great month in your office that you’ll be full of positive experiences and remarks! (That will give me some encouraging quotes about November for next year. 😉 )

Just for you – Dental Marketing Ideas to help you make November

the cheery & productive month it so wants to be…

Let’s start with just a couple of reminders:

Candy Buy Back – Many of you will be starting off the month of November hosting and celebrating your office Candy Buy Back events. Be sure to alert the local TV news, online & print newspapers and social media sites about these events.

Incomplete Treatment & Insurance Maximum Renewals – Do you have any patients with incomplete treatment or ones that are due/past due in hygiene with remaining insurance benefits that are going to run out at the end of this year? Do what you can to help them see the need and value in scheduling an appointment this month before the end of the year rush really shifts into high gear! See Remaining Dental Insurance Maximum Letter – Use It or Lose It Reminders

Dental Education Opportunity:

November is American & National Diabetes Month

Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes.
People with diabetes are 2 times more likely to develop serious gum disease.
Use this month to educate your patients about the connections between diabetes and gum disease while they are in the chair and or via email, office newsletters, and your social media sites.

Great American Smokeout: 17 – Wonderful Educational Opportunity to help your patients Kick the Tobacco Habit! As well as encourage youths to remain tobacco-free.

Cosmetic Dentistry Opportunity:

Many of your patients will soon be attending holiday parties/events and typically with these special occasions come a lot of picture-taking. Now is a great time to help them see how they can easily get their smile ready for the camera with teeth whitening and other cosmetic treatment/procedures.

Continuing Care Opportunity:

Give Up Your Shoulds Day: 1st – The dictionary defines “should” as a word used to indicate obligation, duty, or correctness, typically when criticizing someone’s actions. Help your patients to give up some “shoulds” in their lives that often lead to guilt and stress. Such as: “I should schedule my dentist appointment” or “I should floss every day”; encourage them to turn these shoulds into something positive by seeing the value and personal benefit to flossing every day and/or being able to say they scheduled their dental appointment. It’s not something they “should” do but what they “want” to do to stay healthy.

Here are 3 More Ways to Help Your Patients Smile in November!

World Kindness Week: 13-19 – Have Gift Of Health Certificates for your patients to share with their friends, co-workers, neighbors, and family. What about handing out special surprise gifts for your patients or deliver gifts to local businesses this week. Perhaps there is a patient coming in this week for treatment that is experiencing serious financial hardship and would benefit from some extra kindness by you donating some of their dental treatment.

As always, I would love to hear your ideas for making November a great month! Should you need any help implementing these ideas or have any other questions that I can help you answer…I’m ready to help! Contact me today at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!

I had so many ideas to help you make October a great month that I decided to break it up into two categories, Marketing & Practice Management. If you want to read all of the marketing ideas simply visit here Dental “Marketing” Ideas for October

Now these things can be done at any time during the year, but sometimes, it helps to have an excuse or a little push to get going.

Use it or Lose it!– Get your letters (& phone calls) out to your patients reminding them to use any insurance benefits they have remaining for 2016 to complete any needed treatment or for their continuing care hygiene appointment before they lose them.

Scripting Idea: Customize according to the treatment needs of each of patient. Re-create the urgency and value.

October 3-7 is Customer Service Week – This is a great team meeting theme. What ideas can you come up with as a team to exceed your patient’s expectations by consistently delivering excellent customer service?

What do you do when you run late? (If you’re habitually running behind, please change that habit! It’s disrespectful to your patients and your team) What do you do when the lab screws up a case?

What about comfort? How are you making the visit as comfortable as possible for your patients?

What about your telephone skills? Are you answering the phone during times that patients are most likely to call? (ie: lunch hours and after hours) How about after the treatment – are you making post-op calls? How are you staying in touch with your patients in between their 6 month hygiene appointments?

Here’s an idea for the fall. Make a list of local fall activities as a hand-out or post them on your website and social media sites.

October 17th is Boss’s Day – Plan now to make this day special for your boss(es). Great opportunity to show your appreciation for and to brag about the awesome boss in your life.

October 20th is Get to Know Your Customers Day ~ Perhaps you could have a Business Card, Free Lunch Drawing. Have fun with this day or turn it into a week or month-long event. This will allow you to get to know your patients better as well as learn what local businesses you want to focus some of your marketing efforts on. 🙂

Combine these practice management ideas with my marketing ideas and you will have a great October (and final quarter) as a team! Not to mention, your patients will love you for it!

As always, I would love to hear your ideas! Should you need any help implementing these ideas or have any other questions that I can help you answer…I’m ready to help!

Have you signed up to receive my complimentary dental marketing and practice management ideas that are sent right to your email inbox each month? If not, take a second and sign up. This way, you won’t miss a single idea!

What does the start of 2016 look like for you? With a clear vision and plan, are you excited and hopeful for the opportunity to exceed last years production and collection goals?

Or…

Are you concerned that it will be a repeat of last years disappointing numbers?

Last year did you struggle with any of the following?

Low treatment plan acceptance from your patients.

Not knowing your active and inactive patient numbers.

Hygiene continuing care reports were a nightmare.

Too many holes in the schedule.

Poor treatment presentation skills.

Too many patients left the practice and you don’t know why.

Not enough time to keep your office social media sites current.

Don’t struggle another minute, plan now to make 2016 your BEST year yet! Get whatever help and training you need and want to make the necessary improvements. Feel free to contact me for a complimentary, no obligation consultation at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com.

Today, I’d like to help you tackle one of those struggles… your inactive patients. Let’s reactivate all of your patients that haven’t been in for one year or longer. The start of the new year is a great time to make a plan for reactivating your patients…. (attack that File Cabinet…or computer patient database!)

Ideally, daily, weekly and monthly efforts should be made to develop and maintain relationships with your patients in order to keep them active. However, if for whatever reason your inactive patient database is growing – take steps now to welcome those patients back in to the schedule. You can start by sending a We Miss You reactivation letter.

The following letter can easily be customized to your practice:

WE MISS YOU!

Dear ,

You may not realize how long it has been since we’ve seen you.

We understand how hectic life can be, and it’s easy to put off a visit to the dentist.

We sincerely care about your dental health, and we’re concerned when you miss out on your regular dental visits. With regular check-ups and good home care, dentistry can help you maintain your oral health – and overall health.

Please call xxx xxx today to reserve your appointment and to take advantage of our “let’s get re-acquainted” offer:

Present this letter at your appointment and receive

$25 toward your dental treatment and a

complimentary oral cancer screening.

If you haven’t been in because you are seeing another dentist, please let us know. This way, we can update our records and we’ll know you’re receiving your all important dental care.

A welcoming smile is waiting for you!

Yours for better dental health,Additional Suggestions:

Include a deadline to respond.

Use a handwritten colored envelope (Grab their attention!).

Have two offers: One for your patient and one for a friend, family member, co-worker or neighbor.

Make a call to the patients about a week after mailing the letter.

Be sure to document all attempts at contacting the patient and the response.

Include Social Media & Office Contact Information.

Betty Hayden Consulting is ready to help you create a fantastic marketing plan that will surely exceed your patients expectations and or help you with your practice management concerns and goals. Contact Betty at bhaydenconsulting@gmail.com to set up your no obligation, complimentary consultation.

“It’s the little details that are vital.

Little things make big things happen.” ~John Wooden

Hello friends,

It’s the little things that can make the biggest impact on your practice growth and the happiness of your team. The little things that I am sharing today, are FREE or very low cost and most only require seconds of your time.

Here is a list of 25+ things you can do starting today to greatly improve your office and in turn your personal life too! All it takes is doing a little bit more.

25+ Little Things to Improve your Office:

1. Hello, Good Morning! – Make it a point to greet your fellow team members every morning. Let people know that you see them and acknowledge them with a hello.

2.Smile More – Smiles are contagious. Smile before you pick up the phone, smile to passersby, smile to your team mates and smile in the mirror. Smiling will boost your mood, puts people at ease and makes you more likable.

3.Say my Name – everyone likes to hear his or her name. Greet your patient’s by name. Use their name during treatment. Thank them by name for coming in or calling.

5.Choose to be Positive – Your attitude is a choice and that choice is 100% within your control. Avoid spreading negativity by sharing bad patient experiences, personal problems, or problems with other team members. Choose to be happy and positive.

8.Friendly Greeting – Warmly greet every person that visits the office. Even if you’re on the phone or taking care of a patient, you can acknowledge the other person with a smile.

9. Say Please – Make it a habit to say please everytime you ask for something.

10.Offer a proper handshake- A nice, firm handshake shows confidence and makes a good impression. (Tip: When a new patient comes in to the office, come from around the desk and welcome them with a handshake.)

11.Check it twice – Before you send that email, letter or text, check it for spelling errors.

12. Social Media Sites – If your office is using social media sites be sure to like and follow the pages of local businesses within your community. Click the LIKE button or comment on their posts. Easy way to build relationships.

13. No Cell Phones – Turn down the volume and put your cell phone away while you’re on the clock. Ask your family and friends to call the office line in the event of an emergency. Be fully present during work hours.

14.Write it down- start and end your day with to-do lists. Write a note or set an electronic reminder to check on that claim, call your patient, check voice mail, etc. Writing things down prevents you from forgetting things that are important. (Tip: Avoid placing sticky notes around your work station. Clutter is chaos to the patient. Place reminders in a notebook that you frequently refer to or set electronic reminders.)

15.Commendation – Commend a fellow team member when you catch them doing something “right”. Commendation boosts morale. (Tip: Employers, commend & reward the behavior and actions that you want to see more of.)

16. Business Cards – Carry your business cards with you and use them! Get your team personalized business cards to hand out to patients and people they do business with. (Tip: Use the back of the business card with a call to action invitation.)

17. Stay on Time – Respect your employees and patients time. Do all you can to start the day on time, stay on time and end the day on time. (Tip: If you are constantly running behind schedule it might be a good idea to review your scheduling protocol. How much time does it really take to…, Where should we schedule emergency patients… etc.)

18. Patient of the Day! – Select a patient from the days schedule to be your “patient of the day”. Give them a certificate, a small gift and take their picture to share on your social media sites. Fun and inexpensive way to exceed your patients expectations.

19. Post- Op Calls – Doctor and Hygienist, call your patients at the end of the day to see how well they are doing. (Tip: Call all patients that received an extraction, perio treatment, difficult procedure, were fearful or new to the office.)

20. Pre- Op Calls – Doctor and Hygienist, call the new patients on your schedule and let them know you are looking forward to meeting them. Start building your new relationship early by exceeding their expectations before their very first visit.

21. Send a Card – In this electronic age, rarely do people get “real” mail. Send hand-written thank you, get well, thinking of you, anniversary, sympathy and congratulation cards to your patients. They will truly appreciate it! (Tip: Keep a supply of cards on hand in the office.)

22. Everybody Clean Up – Pick up the piece of paper from the floor, Wipe up the spill up from the counter and Keep your work space clean.

23. Replace the roll of Toilet Paper – Yes, I said it. Even if there are still a few squares left to spare, replace with a fresh roll. While you’re at, go ahead and fold the toilet paper into a pretty fan. 😉

24. Huddle Up – The morning meeting is essential for a successful day. If you tried in the past to have a morning huddle and it didn’t work out… try again! However, this time, please follow these tried and true suggestions & tips for morning meeting success.

26.Dress the Part – If you want it to be a great day, start by looking great. Wear clothes that reflect the excellent care you give your patients. Professional, clean and wrinkle-free clothes. Brush & style your hair, if you’re a woman put on some make-up, wear a special piece of jewelry, etc.

27.Verbiage Matters – Use these words often: Absolutely, I’ll be happy to, My pleasure, You are very welcome, Certainly and Right away.

28.Memorable Goodbye’s– Make a great last impression with a friendly goodbye…be sure to use the patients name. “Thank you for coming in.” “It was great to see you today.” “We really appreciate having great patients like you!”

There you have it, 28 little ways to easily Improve your Office.

“I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.” ~Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Do the right thing, as a team work together to implement these little things in your office every day. Print this list and review it at your next team meeting. Enjoy practice growth with a happier team and happy patients.